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Savannah Christian Students Win International Competition
www.savcps.com, September 9, 2004
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Five web sites produced by last year’s Savannah Christian Middle School Web Quest class have been named winners in the 2004 International Student Media Festival, sponsored by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). The AECT is a professional association of thousands of educators and others whose activities are directed towards improving instruction through technology. Now in its 30th year, the International Student Media Festival is an annual competition and festival designed to encourage teachers to include media production in the curriculum, and to recognize excellence in student media production.

Twenty-two Savannah Christian Middle School students researched and designed five web sites that competed first at the district level, then advanced to the state level before being selected to compete internationally. This year, ISMF received nearly 600 entries representing more than 3,000 students from 24 states and two foreign countries.

For the competition, students at all levels (Kindergarten through college) work individually or in groups to create a project that incorporates one or more medium to provide effective instruction for the production’s intended audience. A panel of 30 judges consisting of top media teachers, media professionals and other qualified individuals reviews the entries. They are evaluated according to the student’s educational level then judged for content, impact and production quality.

"Educators who teach their students to utilize media production in the learning process see powerful results," said Phillip Harris, executive director of AECT. "Based on years of experience, we find that students of all ages simply learn better when the process is enhanced by providing students with the opportunities to create and communicate using various types of media."

One of the most rewarding aspects of the Media Festival, says Harris, is that the lessons learned from participation in the program often stay with students for the rest of their lives. In some cases, their experience leads to a student choosing schooling and a profession related to the field. "At the very least," said Harris, "students have the opportunity to study and better understand media which is among the most powerful forces influencing today’s society."

The Savannah Christian Web Quest students and their teachers traveled to Chicago October 20-24, 2004 to participate in the AECT 2004 International Convention and to receive awards for their winning web sites. The teams received five Awards of Excellence in Media Production – one for each of our teams entered. Escape from Vietnam and Roots of Rock N Roll each received Judge's Favorite Awards, and Roots of Rock N Roll went on to receive Best in Show. One of the judges chose Roots of Rock N Roll as his or her favorite of all entries in any category – website, sequential stills video, etc. While at the conference, the students had the opportunity to participate in a number of workshops in media production including animation, Image Blender, Publisher, PowerPoint, Macromedia Flash Professional and Photoshop.

Web Quest class advisors are Mrs. Linda Fidler and Ms. Bonnie Furnanz.

List of web sites and their creators:
(Note: student grade designations are as of the 2003-04 school year, when the web sites were created)

Other links:
For more information, contact:
Amy Rhodes, Director of Development and Public Relations
Phone:  912-234-1653, Ext. 107
Fax:  912-234-0491
E-mail:  pr@savcps.com